Belgeo

Revue belge de géographie

1-2 | 2006
Competition and complementarity in retailing

Competition between formats and locations in

German retailing
Konkurrenz zwischen Betriebsformen und Standorten im deutschen
Einzelhandel

Elmar Kulke

Electronic version
URL: http://journals.openedition.org/belgeo/10865
DOI: 10.4000/belgeo.10865
ISSN: 2294-9135

Publisher:
National Committee of Geography of Belgium, Société Royale Belge de Géographie

Printed version
Date of publication: 30 June 2006
Number of pages: 27-40
ISSN: 1377-2368

Electronic reference
Elmar Kulke, « Competition between formats and locations in German retailing », Belgeo [Online],
1-2 | 2006, Online since 19 December 2013, connection on 01 May 2019. URL : http://
journals.openedition.org/belgeo/10865 ; DOI : 10.4000/belgeo.10865

This text was automatically generated on 1 May 2019.

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International.
 Competition between formats and locations in German retailing 1

Competition between formats and

locations in German retailing
Konkurrenz zwischen Betriebsformen und Standorten im deutschen
Einzelhandel

Elmar Kulke

Introduction
1 During the last decades retailing in Germany faced a profound change in the supply
structure, the consumer behaviour and the locational distribution. On the supply side the
appearance of new formats of retail stores, the enterprise concentration process and the
progressive internationalisation not only changed the supply-structure but in addition
induced a shift in the importance of retail locations. Very recently consumer behaviour
undergoes alterations linked with post-fordist individualisation of shopping motivation
and of spatial orientation towards different centres; Nearest-Centre-Links become less
important while often changing spatial flexibility in consumption dominates. This article
investigates in the first part the mayor development tendencies of the supply and
demand side and shows their effects on the locational distribution of retailing in
Germany. In the second part differences between West- and East-Germany, which
resulted from the socialist system in the GDR and the reunification process, will be
discussed.

Changes in the structure of the supply-side

New formats of retailing

2 For a long period, the structural change of the supply side was influenced by the
appearance of new types of stores. This restructuring of the supply is characterised by the

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 Competition between formats and locations in German retailing 2

retail life-cycle hypothesis. It postulates that each type or format of retailing has only a
limited life span and in the course of its development regular changes occur in its market
share (cf. Brown, 1988; Kulke, 1992). A type or format of retailing can be described by
typical characteristics like average sales space, service intensity, price level and
assortment of goods. There is a continual emergence of new formats of retailing, however
only those survive, whose characteristics comply better with the existing conditions of
supply and demand than those of older formats. In the beginning of the life-cycle only a
few retailers of the new type exist. If this new format is successful it gains significantly in
importance in the following growth phase. The market share of the new format increases
and it replaces older formats. The maximum market share is reached during the maturity
phase, while towards the end of the life-cycle the sales stagnate or even reverse.
3 The changing market share of retail formats can be observed in Germany during the last
decades (Fig. 1). In food retailing small stores with sales assistants dominated until the
end of the 1950s. Beginning in the early 1960s, they were gradually replaced by the new
type of self-service store, which used the new self-service-principle and operated on a
larger space with a broader assortment of articles. In the 1970s a new type of store – the
so called supermarket – expanded steadily. Supermarkets were bigger (more than 400
sqm sales space) and offered a more varied assortment of articles at a lower price level.
From the mid 1970s in addition hypermarkets expanded very rapidly. They are large
businesses (more than 1,000 sqm sales space) pursuing an aggressive price policy, are
selling groceries and are offering a wide variety of simple non-food articles. During the
last 10 to 15 years the most successful format has been the discount store (e.g. Aldi, Lidl);
these stores have more or less the same size like supermarkets but are offering a highly
standardised assortment (e.g. supermarkets have usually between 8,000 and 12,000
articles but discount stores only offer 660 to 1,300 articles; Kulke, 2004) on an extremely
low price level; therefore they possess a better cost structure and are more and more
replacing the classical supermarket.

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 Competition between formats and locations in German retailing 3

Figure 1. Change in the market share of different retail formats in food retailing in Germany (until
1990 only West Germany).

4 Comparable shifts between formats can be observed in the non-food sector (Fig. 2). Until
the 1970s, two types of formats, the department stores offering a wide assortment of
goods and the specialised stores with a small but deep range of articles, were dominating
the market. Since then both have been increasingly replaced by specialised discount
stores. They are relatively large retail businesses offering a similar range of goods like
specialised stores, but the self-service principle and a relative low personnel intensity
allows these markets to sell their goods at a lower price level.
5 The structural change according to the life-cycle hypothesis has in addition spatial effects
(Klein, 1997; Kulke, 1998). Due to the factor that every new format has other typical
characteristics, their locational preferences differ compared to old formats (Fig. 2). In
general one larger unit often replaces more than one smaller unit; therefore the number
of stores is reduced and especially in scattered locations and smaller housing areas with a
limited demand potential a thinning out process of the supply network can be observed.
In addition the new formats contributed to the suburbanisation process of retailing.
Classical self-services stores were located mainly in the housing areas, the supermarkets
were already found in urban sub-centres or in open spaces in the neighbourhood of the
housing areas. The hypermarkets predominantly chose non-integrated locations at the
outskirts of the towns; there they find reasonably priced and sufficiently large building
lots with good road connections for private transportation. Because of their size they are
often unable to find the space they need in the existing centres. Very recently the
discount stores are replacing supermarkets in housing areas; with them a local supply can
be sustained but with a smaller assortment of articles.

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 Competition between formats and locations in German retailing 4

Figure 2. Characteristics, market share and locations of different retail formats in Germany.

6 The change of formats and locations in West-Germany took place over a period of four
decades. Step by step bigger units gained in importance (in Fig. 1 the years 1966-1990),
which induced a thinning out process of the supply network especially in the housing
areas and small villages and encouraged the development of suburban shopping
locations. In contrast East-Germany possessed at the time of the reunification a very
traditional structure of formats (Kulke, 1998, p. 175f); the food sector was served by
several relatively small units and non-food articles were offered by a limited number of
classical department stores and specialised stores. Hence, the average floor space per
store amounted in the GDR in 1988 only to 68 sqm compared to 200 sqm in West-Germany
(in 1985). With the reunification many new big formats were opened in the East while
most of the small units had to be closed; this can be seen in Fig. 1 by the fast reduction of
the Number of self-service stores between 1990 and 1995. Due to the transformation
induced change today modern formats (hypermarkets, discounter, specialised discount
stores) and non-integrated locations (table 1) have a higher share in the East than in the
West.

Table 1. Market share of different types of retail locations.

Source: Kulke, 2002; based on surveys in the Berlin area and estimations in West-Germany

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 Competition between formats and locations in German retailing 5

Enterprise concentration process in retailing

7 During the last decades in parallel with these changes of the formats was a structural
change of the companies. In the past a traditional one-store enterprise, where the owner
himself was working in the store, was typical for retailing; usually these stores were
linked to an wholesale trade organisation which delivered the goods. Since the 1960s a
strong enterprise concentration process can be observed in German Retailing. Today
large enterprises with several chain-stores are dominating the market. The Gini-
coefficient, which shows the distribution of sales shares among the business size classes
of enterprises, rose from 0.72 in 1962 to 0.87 in 2002 (Fig. 3). These chain-stores offer a
highly standardised assortment of articles and are especially concentrating on those
goods, which are sold very often. With the strategy of having several stores and
distribution centres these companies are able to realise internal economies of scale. And
due to the factor that they are buying large volumes of articles they are in the position to
put pressure on producers concerning prices and qualities.

Figure 3. Sales concentration in German retailing (1962-1998).

N.B. The territory for the years 1962 to 1992 is West Germany (FRG) and for the years
1998-2002 Germany (including West Germany and the territory of the former GDR).

8 During the last ten years the strong position of the companies further increased with the
introduction of new technologies (Henschel, 2005). The big companies were the first to
introduce modern supply chain management systems based on information and
communication technologies. With the use of scanner-cash-boxes and electronic article
management systems they were able to optimise the assortment and the delivery system.
But in addition, by using these electronic systems, they now have an advantage in

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 Competition between formats and locations in German retailing 6

information concerning consumer behaviour and typical combinations of article sales

(Fig. 4). Therefore in the sense of the global commodity chain discussion (e.g. Gereffi,
1996; Wrigley and Lowe, 2002) in retailing typically a buyer driven structure can be
identified. The big companies have a strong purchasing power compared with producers
of standardised articles. And they are able to optimise the assortment in every store
dependent on the local demand structure. Therefore they have a strong competitive
advantage on the market compared to production and demand.

Figure 4. Model of the retail commodity chain.

9 The enterprise concentration process has effects on the locational system of retailing.
Compared to independent stores the chain stores usually have lower costs and a higher
sales space productivity; therefore they are able to occupy the more attractive (and more
expensive) locations in the urban centres while independent retailers are either forced to
close down or to survive in spatial market niches. Surveys show (e.g. Kulke, 1998) that
chain-stores are dominating the city-centres, the planned shopping-centres and the large
retail agglomerations at the outskirts of the towns. Independent retailers are only found
in higher shares in small villages and in minor sub-centres and housing areas of towns
where only a limited demand potential is available. And these areas face a further
thinning out process of supply when the shop-owner reaches the retirement age, because
no successor is willing to continue with the business.
10 Comparing West- and East-Germany, the share of chain-stores is even higher in the East
than in the West. Before the reunification (1988) independent stores only gained 11.4% of
the turnover in the GDR (compared to 39% of one-store enterprises in West-Germany;
EUROSTAT, 1993). The privatisation process after the reunification encouraged the
development of independent stores but with the fast entrance of West-German chain-
stores to the East-German market many of them had to close down soon.

Internationalisation of retailing

11 For a long time retailing was mainly dominated by local or national companies. Only just
during the last decade more and more big enterprises tried to open up new markets in

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 Competition between formats and locations in German retailing 7

foreign countries (table 2). Driving forces for the internationalisation are the stagnating
sales at the home market, the more easy international relations in Europe due to the EU-
integration process and the expectation to gain additional turnover in other markets
(Alexander, 1997; Kulke, 1997, McGoldrick and Davies, 1995, Wortmann 2003). Typically
enterprises use for the international expansion retail formats, which have proved to be
successful at the home market and which are different to existing formats in the foreign
market. Examples for that are the Swedish furniture seller IKEA (with 216 stores in 21
foreign countries, 2005) or the German grocery discounter Aldi (with 3,741 stores in the
home country an with 2,643 stores in 11 other countries; 2002), which both were
successful on the international market with new formats.

Table 2. Internationalisation of German retailing (Number of employees in 1000).

Source: Wortmann, 2003; based on data of the German Bundesbank

12 The form of international expansion in detail is dependent on the assortment of articles

sold by the retailers (Gotterbarm, 2004; Kulke, 1997). Non-food retailers with a quality
oriented assortment of articles prefer the centres of large agglomerations and follow a
hierarchical (dependent on the size of the towns) expansion process (e.g. Nike-stores,
Bennetton-stores). Large units with a high consumer attraction (like IKEA) first enter
locations at the outskirts of large agglomerations and then expand to smaller
agglomerations. The expansion process of grocery retailers (with perishable goods) is
different to the hierarchical pattern; they usually follow a space oriented strategy. In one
region they open several units which can be delivered by one central located distribution
centre.
13 German retailers showed a strong expansion process to the European market during the
nineties (Wortmann, 2003, p. 18f); today German retailers employ more than 310,000
persons abroad and the big food-discount chains gain already one third of their turnover
in foreign countries (e.g. in the year 2001 Aldi 28%, Lidl 30%, Metro 41%, Rewe 20%;
Gotterbarm, 2004, p. 56). In Germany for a long time foreign retailers only possessed a
limited market share (table 2) and were mainly be found in the non-food sector. These
companies showed the typical hierarchical spatial expansion process by either entering
the market with big units in suburban locations (IKEA since 1974, Toys’R’Us since 1986) or
with specialised stores in the city centres (e.g. Benetton, H&M, Zara, Orsay). During the
last years some international chains tried to enter the food sector (e.g. Wal-Mart in 1998;
see Gotterbarm, 2004), but German chain-stores are still dominating this sector. The
efforts of foreign companies either failed (like Netto in East-Germany) or were less

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 Competition between formats and locations in German retailing 8

successful (like Wal-Mart with 92 units; 2002). This can be explained by the strong
domination of big national chains (in 1999 the ten biggest food-chains gained a share of
81% of the turnover), by the high price competition in Germany and by logistical
problems for new companies.

Changes in consumer behaviour

14 During the last decades the individual incomes of consumers in Central Europe increased
more or less constantly. With higher incomes the demand structures are changing;
consumers not only buy more goods but in addition especially more higher ranking
articles (e.g. entertainment electronics, clothes) while the demand for basic need articles
(e.g. groceries) stagnates (Kulke, 2005). And under the condition of more or less the same
available time for shopping the consumers have to buy more articles during one visit to a
shopping facility (called coupling). In addition with higher incomes usually the
equipment of households with private transportation (cars) improves; with better private
transportation more attractive shopping facilities are within reach of the consumers. The
income increase led to a reduction of demand in small stores and scattered locations and
was an important element of the thinning out process of the supply network in Germany.
On the other side, centres with a broad assortment of articles (possibility for coupling)
and non-integrated locations (due to the bigger spatial flexibility by car use) gained in
importance.
15 Very recently additional elements of change in consumer motivation appear and lead to a
post-fordist individualisation of spatial consumer behaviour (Gerhard, 1998; Wrigley and
Lowe, 1996). Individual consumers show a polarisation in their behaviour which is mainly
dependent on articles: First they very often show a strong price orientation for basic need
articles, second they have a tendency for ‘smart shopping’ of high quality brand products
(using special offers for these products) and third they are willing to spend much money
for life-style products in an attractive entertainment environment. Connected with these
new forms of behaviour is the reduction of importance of so called Nearest-Centre-Links
(Heinritz, Klein and Popp, 2003, p. 135f). In the past consumers usually bought the needed
articles in the next centre where these products were available. Today the consumers
show a very flexible and often changing spatial orientation; the visit to nearby or fare
away shopping facilities is dependent on daily changing shopping motivation, coupling
with other activities and availability of time. Surveys in the Berlin-area show (done by
Kulke and Martin in 2004; based on 1,709 questionnaires), that Nearest-Centre-Links are
still strong for price-oriented food shopping (two thirds of all purchases) while in the
non-food sector more end more spatial flexibility dominates (Nearest-Centre-Links for
clothes only 47% and for entertainment electronics 57%).
16 These new forms of behaviour have effects on the position of different retail formats and
locations in competition. Price shopping promotes the development of discount stores in
food retailing and of specialised discount stores in non-food retailing. Entertainment
oriented behaviour is in favour of attractive centres where different formats of retailing,
larger magnet-stores with a broad assortment of articles and additional service
enterprises (e.g. restaurants, cinemas, fitness-studios) are located.

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 Competition between formats and locations in German retailing 9

Locational Change in German retailing

17 The characterised changes of supply and demand developed in West-Germany over a
period of four decades and changed step by step the locational system of retailing (Fig. 5;
Kulke, 1998). Due to the appearance of larger units and to the reduction of demand in
villages and housing areas the supply network of smaller food-stores thinned out. First
higher ranking centres with a broader assortment of articles increased their market
share. Since the 1970s non integrated locations at the outskirts of the towns expanded
fast. Today a hierarchical system of classical shopping centres – city, sub-centres and
some smaller neighbourhood shopping areas – still exists in the urban areas of West-
German cities. But the supply network is completed by non-integrated locations at the
outskirts of the towns; there mainly hypermarkets and large specialised discount stores
(e.g. for furniture, entertainment electronics) are to be found. Nevertheless the
development of suburban locations is restricted by regional planning laws and mainly
limited to space intensive units like furniture stores, home improvement stores and
hypermarkets (Guy, 1998; Kulke, 1992). At the moment especially smaller sub-centres
with less attractive shopping environment and a limited assortment of articles are under
strong pressure. Non-integrated locations try to diversify themselves to attract price-
shoppers and entertainment-shoppers and are gaining in importance (table 1).

Figure 5. Model of the locational system of retailing in Germany.

18 In East-Germany (Jürgens, 1996; Meyer, 1992; Pütz, 1997) the starting point was quite
different. Like in all socialist countries there was a planned hierarchical system of non-
food centres in the towns and a very dense system of small food-stores in the housing
areas; non-integrated locations did not exist (table 1). In general the supply was very

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 Competition between formats and locations in German retailing 10

limited compared to the West; the average floor space per inhabitant amounted in East-
Berlin only to 0.32 sqm per inhabitant compared to 0.94 sqm in West-Berlin (table 3). And
there always was more consumer demand for non-food articles than available supply
(table 4).

Table 3. Development of retail sales space in the Berlin-area.

Source: IHK, 1998; SenStadt, 2005

Table 4. Structural characteristics of retailing in the GDR and West-Germany.

Source: Kulke, 1998, p. 176 (based on different statistics)

19 With the reunification very suddenly the new formats of retailing were established and
the new forms of consumer behaviour – due to an rapid increase in income and private
mobility – were adopted. And the planning restrictions of West-Germany did not exist at
that time in the East, which opened a locational window of opportunity for establishing
retail spaces in non-integrated locations. Immediately after the reunification all stores
were privatised. Most of the small food-stores (mainly small self-service stores) had to

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 Competition between formats and locations in German retailing 11

close down, because they had an unfavourable cost structure and a limited assortment of
articles and therefore were not able to compete with the modern super- and
hypermarkets. Within a few months West-German chain-stores took there chance to
conquer the East-German market by opening modern formats; in the beginning they
mostly chose locations at the outskirts of towns and villages. In the built up areas – due to
unsettled proprietary rights – almost no locations were available. Only a little bit later,
large specialised discount stores and shopping centres were developed in non-integrated
locations. Until the mid nineties these developments caused a strong suburbanisation
process of retailing while the supply network in the towns deteriorated. These
developments can be seen in the Berlin-area (table 3). Until the mid-nineties the
strongest expansion of floor space occurred at the outskirts of the agglomeration; there
the floor space per inhabitant rose from 0.27 sqm to 1.42 sqm.
20 In the middle of the nineties the suburban developments were limited by planning laws
and in addition the proprietary rights in the built up areas were cleared. Since then a
reorientation towards the urban areas can be observed, where several shopping centres
were developed during the last years. They now fulfil the function of city-centres and
urban sub-centres but are very different in their characteristics compared to West-
German centres. Usually they are owned by one developer, who rents the lots to national
and international chain stores; in general the share of independent stores in East-
Germany is very limited. All stores are located in one building surrounding a pedestrian
zone; restaurants and other service units are included and nearby parking facilities
available. These new units are very attractive either for price-shoppers or for
entertainment-shoppers. This reorientation can be seen in Berlin; there the sales space in
the built up areas increased during the years 1997 to 2003 by 28.4% and the sales space
per inhabitant today amounts to 1.25 sqm.
21 Today at the outskirts of the towns a overstoring-process already can be observed and
some of the less attractive units are now closing down there. But still until today the
market share of non-integrated locations is in East-Germany much higher than in West-
Germany (table 1).

Conclusion
22 To explain retail developments always the combination of changes on the supply side, of
modifications in consumer behaviour and of influences of the planners have to be taken
into consideration. During the last decades the appearance of new retail formats, the
enterprise concentration process and very recently the internationalisation were driving
forces for retail change. At the moment new forms of consumer behaviour show
increasing importance for the locational developments. Looking at the position of
different types of retail locations in competition, centres with an attractive mix of
formats, complementary services and a broad assortment of articles and locations with
discounters seem to be the winners. Problematic is the position of scattered locations and
of smaller sub-centres without special attraction.

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 Competition between formats and locations in German retailing 12

BIBLIOGRAPHY
ALEXANDER N. (1997), International Retailing, Oxford.

BROWN S. (1988), « The wheel of the wheel of retailing », International Journal of Retailing, 3,
pp. 16-37.

EUROSTAT (1995), Der Einzelhandel im Europäischen Wirtschaftsraum, Brüssel/ Luxemburg.

GEREFFI G. (1996), « Global commodity chains: new forms of coordination and control among
nations and firms in international industries », Competition and Change, 4, pp. 427-439.

GERHARD U. (1998), Erlebnis-Shopping oder Versorgungseinkauf, Marburg.

GOTTERBARM C. (2004), « US-amerikanische Einzelhandelsunternehmen in Deutschland »,

Geographische Handelsforschung, 9, Passau.

GUY C. (1998), « Controlling new retail spaces: the impress of planning policies in western
Europe », Urban Studies, 35, pp.  53-979.

HEINRITZ G., KLEIN K., POPP M. (2003), Geographische Handelsforschung, Berlin/ Stuttgart.

HENSCHEL S. (2005), Potentielle Standortwirkungen von Innovationen der Informations- und

Kommunikationstechnologien im Lebensmitteleinzelhandel, Berlin.

JÜRGENS U. (1996), « Einzelhandel in den neuen Bundesländern unter besonderer

Berücksichtigung der Entwicklung großflächiger Handelsbetriebe », Berichte zur deutschen
Landeskunde, 70, pp. 327-346.

KLEIN K. (1997), « Wandel der Betriebsformen im Einzelhandel », Geographische Rundschau, 49,

pp. 499-505.

KULKE E. (1992), « Structural change and spatial response in the retail sector in Germany », Urban
Studies, 29, pp. 965-978.

KULKE E. (1997), « Einzelhandel in Europa », Geographische Rundschau, 49, pp. 478-483.

KULKE E. (1998), Wirtschaftsgeographie Deutschlands, Gotha, Stuttgart.

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pp. 44-49.

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Standort », Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen, 148, pp. 88-91.

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10, pp. 9-36.

MCGOLDRICK P.J., DAVIES G. (Ed., 1995), International Retailing, Trends and Strategies, London.

MEYER G. (1992), « Strukturwandel im Einzelhandel der neuen Bundesländer », Geographische

Rundschau, 44, pp. 246-252.

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Beispiel Dresden », Mainzer Kontaktstudium Geographie, 3, pp. 37-65.

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WORTMANN M. (2003), Strukturwandel und Globalisierung des deutschen Einzelhandels, WZB-

discussion paper, SP III 2003-202a, Berlin.

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ABSTRACTS
The structure and locational system of retailing in Germany faced during the last decades a
profound change. Important factors were on the supply side the appearance of new formats of
retail stores, the enterprise concentration process and the progressive internationalisation. They
not only changed the supply-structure but in addition induced a shift in the importance of retail
locations. Very recently consumer behaviour undergoes alterations linked with post-fordist
individualisation of shopping motivation and of spatial orientation towards different centres.
These changes induced a shift towards attractive centres and sub-urban locations while scattered
locations are under strong pressure.

In den letzten Jahrzehnten verzeichnete der Einzelhandel starke Veränderungen des

Standortsystems. Beeinflußt wurden diese Veränderungen auf der Angebotsseite durch das
Auftreten neuer Betriebsformen, den Konzentrationsprozeß von Unternehmen und die
fortschreitende Internationalisierung. Sie führten nicht nur zu neuen Angebotsstrukturen
sondern trugen auch zum Wandel der Bedeutung von Versorgungsstandorten bei. Auf der
Nachfrageseite zeigen sich gegenwärtig immer ausgeprägtere post-fordistische
Individualisierungen der Verhaltensweisen und in der Orientierung auf Zentren. Die Angebots-
und Nachfrageveränderungen begünstigen attraktive Zentren und suburbane Standorte während
Streulagen an Bedeutung verlieren.

INDEX
Keywords: retailing, retail formats, consumer behaviour, locational change
Schlüsselwörter: Einzelhandel, Einzelhandelsbetriebsformen, Konsumentenverhalten,
Standortwandel

AUTHOR
ELMAR KULKE
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Geographisches Institut, Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin,
elmar.kulke@geo.hu-berlin.de

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